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Ken Burns at the University of Glasgow
17th-20th April 1999

Ken Burns at the Gilmorehill Centre, University of Glasgow

During April 1999 Mr. Ken Burns, the man hailed by The New York Times as "the most accomplished documentary filmmaker of his generation," made his first ever visit to Scotland, where he spent four days as the guest of the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies.

Ken's visit was arranged as the final event in a year-long series of lectures and seminars celebrating the inauguration of the Andrew Hook Centre, and the bicentennial of the United States Consulate in Scotland.

While at Glasgow Ken and his daughter Lilly travelled with the Director of the Andrew Hook Centre to Alloway and to Edinburgh, and they were the guests of honour at a banquet held in the Principal's Lodgings.

Ken Burns meets with University of Glasgow students

Meeting and talking with students was the focal point of Ken's visit, and he held an informal seminar with American Studies M.Phil students, and a second with undergraduates taking courses in American History and in Film Studies. During the two months preceding Ken's visit, the Andrew Hook Centre and the Department of Film, Theatre and Television Studies had hosted screenings of much of his work, including documentaries on Frank Lloyd Wright and Thomas Jefferson, and episodes of his series on the American Civil War and Baseball.

Student Seminars

The academic portion of Ken's visit ended with his lecture 'Sharing the American Experience.' This was an extremely well attended event, and in an engaging and insightful presentation Ken examined the ways in which his work has grappled with the overarching question of 'who are we as Americans?'

Ken Burns delivers his lecture 'Sharing the American Experience.'

American columnist George Will has written on Ken Burns: "If better use has ever been made of television, I have not seen it and I do not expect to see better until Ken Burns turns his prodigious talents to his next project." That next project will be a major new series on Jazz, to be broadcast in full on British TV in 2001.